You Time

You’ve heard of “Me Time” I’m sure. Finding ways to do something that you enjoy or that helps you relax or that is fun. It can be something you do alone or something you do with friends. It can also be a bubble bath or a little shopping trip or a pedicure. Anything that makes you happy and helps you unwind.

Some people, especially women, don’t make this a priority. They are so busy putting everyone else’s needs ahead of their own that they continue putting this on the back burner. That’s a bad thing, and here’s why. Doing something just for yourself is not selfish and it doesn’t mean that you are choosing to push your family’s needs behind your own. It’s actually healthy. Now, I’m not talking about going out every night or anything extreme – but once a month or once a week or once a day finding little ways to do something for yourself is healthy. Constantly sacrificing and doing things for everyone else is taxing and exhausting. If you don’t occasionally take a break you are likely to get stressed. And this means you’re more likely to get sick, get bad sleep, and feel resentful. None of those things are good.

I’m not saying you need to do anything extreme. Here are a few examples of how I handle “Me Time.” Sometimes after a long day when my husband gets home, I’ll go upstairs and take a bath. It’s nice for me to just sit for 20 minutes and be alone. Sometimes I read, but usually I just sit and enjoy the quiet. Another thing I do is at the end of the day, when everyone else is in bed, I’ll light candles in the fireplace (it’s not a fireplace we can actually burn wood in), put the heating pad on my back, lay on the couch with my softest blanket, and watch an episode of something I love on Netflix.

It’s also important that your spouse gets this time too. My husband will occasionally just lay on the bed and play games on his phone for 20 minutes. Sometimes he’ll take his kayak out for a few hours. These times are equally good and healthy for him.

The point is this. You need to make sure that you are giving yourself some time or fun or whatever you need to recharge and relax. Occasionally doing that is good for you and necessary. You can be your best self when you are happy, healthy, rested and fulfilled – and taking a little time for yourself here and there is an incredibly important part of being all of those things.